Diocesan Heritage Project
Bulgaden-Martinstown Parish

The village of Bulgaden is about 3 miles from Kilmallock off
the R515. The parish is called Bulgaden/Martinstown but in old editions of
the Catholic Directory the parish was known as Bulgaden and Ballinvana. Today
the parish is made up of parts of the old parishes of Ballinvana (which was
also called Athaneasy) and Kilmallock. Ballinvana has also been called Kilbreedy
Major and Fantstown over the years in various sources.

Across the road from Martinstown church, there is a cross
to Patrick Staker Wallis, a small farmer and member of the United Irishmen
who was killed in 1798 for resisting the power of the landlord.

There are two churches in use in the parish today. Bulgaden
church was built around 1860 and is dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption.
This church is unusual in that the back of the church is facing onto the road.
Fr McNamara explained to us that this is because in the last century the old
road passed by the front of the church. The new road ran by the back of the
church. The large stained glass window behind the altar is dedicated to the
memory of Fr O'Clery. On the right of the church there is a plaque to the
memory of Bishop D. J. Hennessy of the Diocese of Dubuque in Iowa.

Buried within the church are:
Marcus O'Clery P.P.
Of Bulgaden & Ballinvana
Died 8 December 1886, aged 74

James Walsh P.P.
Parish Priest for 39 years
Died December 24 1858, aged 77

Buried in the grounds of the church are:
James Lyons
P.P. 1958-1966
Died December 16 1966

Canon O'Connell
Leeds
Died October 13 1961

Patrick J. Coleman
P.P. 1949-1958
Died January 12 1958

Rev. Matthew Lynch
Uxbridge, Middlesex
A native of Stephenstown
Died September 4 1944

Patrick V. Higgins
P.P. 1936
Died December 10 1936, aged 59

Canon George Culhane
P.P. 1923-1934
Died March 24 1934

Canon Michael Leahy
Died April 9 1949

Canon George Quain
P.P. 1906-1923
Died April 21 1923, aged 76

Maurice Fitzpatrick
P.P. 1938-1940
Died May 13 1940, aged 51

Jacob McCoy
P.P. 1886-1906
Headstone is in Latin

At the back of the church there is a cross that commemorates
a mission given by the Oblate Fathers in May 1883.

The other church in the parish is at Martinstown, which is
also dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption. The plaque over the church door
dates the church as 1834. The church was built under the leadership of Jacob
Walsh and was opened by Bishop Ryan. The church was renovated a number of
years ago when the gallery was removed.

Mr and Mrs James McCormack from Ballinvana donated the Stations
of the Cross in 1939. There is also a plaque asking people to pray for Padraig
Mac Flanncada and Liam Ó Slatarra, who died in the War of Independence.
Another plaque was given by the Oblate Fathers in 1891. The stained glass
windows at the back of the church were given by Fr Mark Crowley P.P. of Middlesborough,
Yorkshire in 1991. His parents were natives of the parish.

Westropp mentions a number of church ruins in the parish at Emlygrennan, Kilbreedy
Major and Athneasy graveyards as well as at Fantstown and Adamstown. However,
there are no longer any discernible ruins at any of these except for Kilbreedy.
The church at Emlygrennan was preceded by a church to St Malo that was destroyed
in the war of the 1640s.

The burial ground in the churchyard has recently been expanded
to include the land at the front of the church. Throughout the parish there
are a number of graveyards.

The graveyard in Kilbreedy East is well maintained by a local
committee and mass is said there once a year. The graveyard is in the same
location as the church ruin in Kilbreedy. There is a tomb to John Clifford
C.C. who died on December 31st 1846 at the age of 26. The oldest headstone
that we came across was from 1748 and is in memory of James McGuirc who died
on August 7th in that year aged 72 years.

The graveyard in Emlygrennan is also situated in the grounds of a church ruin,
near St. Molua's well. The oldest headstone that we discovered was in memory
of John O'Grady who was from Martinstown and died on April 26th 1838. Some
of the headstones were indecipherable due to erosion.

Athnassey (or Athanacy as it was spelt at the entrance) graveyard
is near the border that divides the dioceses of Limerick and Cashel &
Emly. Trees and a wall enclose the graveyard. The oldest headstone that we
found dated from June 1st 1790 and was erected to the memory of Patrick Casey
by his wife Catherine.

The only Holy Wells in the parish that we came across was St Molua's Well.
St Molua was a Limerick saint, said to have died in 623AD. In the earliest
traditions the well is supposed to be over the grave of the pagan warrior
Lugaid. But Molua, Mo Lua, My Lua, is in fact a pet form of the name
Lugaid.

According to Danaher, this well was, at the time of writing,
in the parish of Emlygrennan. It is situated in the townland of Balline and
is about 200 yards east of the church ruins in Emlygrennan. The old name for
this area was the Red Bog and the land is still quite wet and boggy. To visit
the well you have to walk through two fields from the roadside.

The feastday of St Molua is on the 3rd and 4th of August and
in the past a large pattern was held in the area. The rounds were made at
both the well and the churchyard. Three visits were usually made on different
days and at each visit six rounds were made at the well and three rounds in
the graveyard. Water was drunk after the completion of each round. Rags were
left at the well as offerings.

According to legend the well moved when clothes were washed
in it. It is also believed that the water will not boil and that those who
are to be cured of their ailments see a trout in the well. Another story claims
that heavenly music was heard at the well, and also that a woman who took
water from the well for misuse saw a human hand in the well. It is claimed
that the water from the well can cure sore eyes, skin disease and ague (a
fever).

Danaher also mentions three other wells that are in the parish.
In the old parish of Kilbreedy Major there was a well in the townland of Fantstown
called Lady's well. This well was near the ruin of Fantstown church and a
pattern used to be held on the 15th of August. The site of this well is now
lost. One night, on his way home from the well, Fr Mulqueen, P.P., of the
parish was shot and killed by the Whiteboys in November 1819 when he intervened
in a row between the Whiteboys and a farmer by the name of Clifford. His successor
James Walsh abolished the tradition of the pattern.

Also in the old parish of Kilbreedy Major, Danaher tells us
that there was a well in Kilbreedy east called Toberbreedy. This well was
reputed to be behind the church ruin in Kilbreedy but we could find no trace
of it.

There was also a Holy Well in the old parish of Athneasy,
in the townland of Ballinvana, called Lady's well. This well was done up in
the mid-1950s when a statue was erected at the well. The pattern was usually
held on the 25th of March and it was claimed that the water from the well
could cure sore eyes.

Danaher also gives details of three Holy Wells that he rates
as 'doubtful'. In Ballinvreena, there was a well called Tobar Cinn Mhóir,
which was mentioned in the siege of Knocklong. There were also wells in the
parish of Emlygrennan (now part of the parish of Bulgaden/Martinstown) in
the townlands of Balline and Cush, called Boragh well and Tubermalaragh (Molara's
well) respectively.

The list of Priests from 1704 to 1836 is compiled from information gained
in Begley's History of the Diocese of Limerick Vol. III page 598. The remaining
years are compiled from the Catholic Directories. Information contained in
a directory of any given year refers to what happened the previous year. For example
if a priest is recorded in the 1954 directory as being in a particular parish,
this would mean that he was actually there in 1953.